Hello it’s Emma here from Women’s Health & Hormones.  Today I’m talking about uterine fibroids and some methods we can use to help to shrink fibroids naturally.

Book a Consultation with Naturopath Emma Stimpson

What are Uterine Fibroids?

Uterine fibroids are one of the major health challenges women face today.  They’re the most common benign tumor (non-cancerous tumor) in women of childbearing age.   And especially prevalent for women who are over 40.  Women who are over 40 are around four times more likely to develop uterine fibroids and the fibroidsare likely to be twice the size and twice in number as compared to women of other ages.

Are You in Your 40s?

So it’s a real health issue for women.   Especially for women in their 40s and then leading into the peri-menopausal phase (late 40s and early 50s).  After menopause,  fibroids hopefully should naturally start to shrink in size anyway without you needing to do a single thing.

Shrinking Fibroids is Not Always Necessary

So the first thing to consider is whether there’s any need for you to use natural treatment or pharmaceutical medication to shrink fibroids anyway.   Around 25 to 50 percent of women who have fibroids have asymptomatic fibroids.  The only reason the fibroids are identified is because women are undergoing procedures for other reasons and they suddenly discover fibroids are present.

However for the other 50 to 75 percent of women (the majority of women who have fibroids) they do cause significant symptoms.

Are You Pregnant or Trying To Conceive?

One of the main concerns for women  with fibroids is whether it’s impacting fertility or pregnancy.  This is more of a concern for women in their twenties, thirties and early forties  because fibroids  can still present in those earlier age groups.  They’re just not as severe – they’re less common, smaller and less frequent.  However they can still have a significant impact on fertility.

Fibroids Can Cause Heavy, Painful Periods

As women get older the major symptoms are associated with menstrual bleeding.   We know that women who have uterine fibroids have increased blood loss and pain during the periods.  The pain can be quite diverse.   It can be just a bit of cramping.   But it can also be a very heavy, dragging, aching pain that extends low in the abdomen, the lower back and down the legs as well.

What About Spotting and Break-through Bleeding?

A lot of women who have fibroids also have break-through bleeding.  They get bleeding at other times of their cycle (not only during the period).  That generally happens because blood is pooling around the site of the fibroid.  Sometimes that break-through bleeding is linked to hormonal imbalance which are common for women who have uterine fibroids.   We now know that an imbalance in the hormones is primarily what’s driving the development of the fibroids in the first place.

Are Fibroids Affecting Your Quality of Life?

So if you’ve been diagnosed with uterine fibroids and you’re getting those symptoms of heavy bleeding, anaemia,  break-through bleeding, pain, discomfort and irregular cycles and these symptoms are concerning you then it’s important to do something about it.  The extent to which it can affect your quality of life is huge.  It’s important in this case to do everything you can naturally to relieve the symptoms and shrink the fibroids.

If your fibroids are asymptomatic and you’re not getting symptoms associated with them it’s important to continue to monitor them. Make sure they are not growing in size or increasing in number.  But it’s not necessary to attempt to shrink them.

Get Your Hormones Tested

The first step in managing fibroids and hopefully moving towards shrinking the size of the fibroid is to get your hormones tested.

We know that fibroids grow and develop in a state of estrogen dominance in the body, when there’s too much estrogen circulating.  Estrogen dominance can also be caused by an imbalance between progesterone and estrogen.

Progesterone is a wonderful hormone that helps to offset some of the negative proliferative effects of estrogen.  It’s the proliferative effects of estrogen that cause increase in size in the fibroids.  And also an increase in thickening of the lining of the endometrium.  This can continue to exacerbate the heavy bleeding.

Estrogen Dominance… Is High Estrogen or Low Progesterone the Problem?

So you need to find out through hormone testing whether the problem is just that you have high levels of circulating estrogen and we need to put steps into place using nutrition and  lifestyle to help to lower your estrogen levels.   Or whether the problem is actually that your estrogen levels are  too high in comparison to progesterone.

You may have low progesterone that’s causing this imbalance between the hormones.   So you need to find out the ratio or balance between the hormones.

Saliva Hormone Testing

Now I love saliva hormone testing.   That’s my preferred method to test hormones.   Saliva hormone testing is very sensitive.  It picks up imbalances that sometimes get missed through blood work.

Your body produces three different types of estrogen – E1, E2 and E3.  Blood testing only measures one of these (E2) so you miss the opportunity to gather information about E1 and E3.

With saliva hormone testing you can gather information about your hormonal blueprint and then be more specific in the types or herbs and nutrients you take to restore balance to your body.  This will help you manage the symptoms of fibroids and (over a longer duration time) shrink the fibroids.

Address Nutritional Deficiencies

It’s important to get an idea of what’s happening  with some key nutrients. Optimal nutrient status is important for women who have fibroids.  There are a few specific nutrients  indicated into the treatment of fibroids. Some of these nutrients can be measured through testing.  These include iodine, definitely getting iodine, vitamin D B12 and folate.

Iron Studies and Anemia

If you have symptomatic fibroids causing heavy bleeding,  you may have anemia.  You definitely want to check have iron studies checked through a blood test and take an iron supplement if your ferritin is low. Heavy periods can cause iron deficiency.  And the  more iron deficient you are, the heavier your period will be.

Individualised Treatment for Great Results

So once you’ve found out your hormonal blueprint and your nutrient status, then it’s time to start to implement some very specific herbal medication and nutritional supplements to restore balance to your hormones.  This will help to  minimize some of the symptoms that are causing discomfort in your life.  It will also restore nutrient levels so that you see long-term improvements.

This is why I love testing,  because the testing gives us individualized information about what’s going on in your body.   The more we know about what’s going on in your body,  the more tailored and individualized your treatment can be.  And that’s how you get results.

Herbal Medicine to Reduce Heavy, Painful Periods

There are some fantastic herbs that are astringent or uterine tonics that help to reduce heavy bleeding.  There’s other herbs and nutrients that are wonderful for reducing inflammation and pain so that you can really minimize the impact of your period on your quality of life.  That’s a great outcome. And of course we need to use specific herbs and nutrients to balance your hormonal profile.  We can  assist your body to process hormones more effectively which will help lower estrogen levels.

Herbal Medicine to Support Ovulation and Increase Progesterone

We can also use herbal medicine to support ovulation and progesterone production.  Progesterone is primarily produced through the corpus luteum which is what’s left over of the  follicle after the egg is released from the ovary during ovulation. We want to help your body produce enough progesterone to counteract some of those proliferative effects of estrogen so balancing your hormones is key here in helping the body naturally shrink fibroids.

Reduce Lifestyle Triggers that are Causing Fibroids to Grow

Once you’re on a treatment plan and are starting to get improvements,  I think it’s also really well advised to have a close look at the extent to which you can identify and address any other underlying root causes in your lifestyle that might have led to the development of fibroids.

Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals

When we’re looking at lifestyle, it’s really important to reduce your exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals.  These are chemicals from the environment that disturb your body’s hormonal regulation.  They are a real problem for women who have estrogen dominance.  So anything you can do in your lifestyle to minimize estrogen dominance and reduce endocrine disrupting chemicals will help.

Choosing certified organic foods will reduce your intake of  herbicides and pesticides which we know are potent endocrine disrupting chemicals.  Choosing natural products wherever you’re able to will also help.  So swap your cleaning products over to natural products.  Even personal care products  like shampoo, conditioner and makeup can  endocrine disrupting chemicals.  So swap these to natural products too.

Leave Your Shoes Outside

Taking your shoes off before you enter your home can also help to give your body a break from these chemicals.   Endocrine disrupting chemicals  are not floating through the air.  They are settling on surfaces so we’re picking a lot of them up on our shoes as we’re walking around.  Taking your shoes off before you go into the house can lead to a significant reduction in these chemicals circulating through your body and disturbing your hormonal production.

How are Your Stress Levels?

We all know that sometimes life stress can get in the way.  Stress hormones are pro-inflammatory, so they can increase inflammation in your body which can increase the pain you experience.   Stress can also affect the way your body produces hormones, especially progesterone.  Have a look and see what you can do to lower your  stress and help your body cope with the effects of stress in your life.

The Gut Microbiome and Hormonal Detoxification

Improving the health of your gut microbiota is of  great value for women who are estrogen dominant.  The healthy bugs that live in your gut help your body digest foods, absorb nutrients and eliminate hormones and waste products more efficiently from the system.  Then we want to go through and support the detoxification pathway through the liver that also help our bodies process hormones like estrogen.

Genetics and Epigenetics…Do You Have a Family History of Fibroids?

It’s important for you to know that genetics can also play a role in the development of fibroids.  But there is this wonderful new field of research called epigenetics.  It looks at the influence of dietary, lifestyle and environmental factors on our genetic makeup.  We now know that just because you’re born with a certain set of genes it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s your destiny to walk down that pathway.

How powerful is that!

There’s so much that can be done using lifestyle and nutrition to influence the way your body’s switchingon and switching off genes.  And this is really important for women who have fibroids.

I hope this information has being useful for you.

If you’d like to find out more about your hormones and how you can address hormonal imbalances naturally to help shrink uterine fibroids, you might be interested in taking a look at my book The Hormone Breakthrough.  If you’re interested in downloading a digital copy of the book, click here.

Yours in Health,

 

Book a Consultation with Naturopath Emma Stimpson